How to Sell Your Autographs Collection
If you own autographs as a collector, you might never want to sell your autographs. However, sometimes, you will find yourself with no other choice. Perhaps you are no longer interested, or maybe you need the money. Or perhaps you simply want to know how much they would be worth. Either way, you have to take the right steps.
How to Sell Your Autographs
First of all, you need to have your autographs authenticated. Lots of different services can do this and provide you with certificates. You knowing that your autographs are the real deal isn’t enough, there are simply too many good scam artists out there. Hence, you need that certificate, even if that costs you money.
Make sure, however, that you use a trusted and respected authentication services. If someone buys your autograph, they will want to know who authenticated it, and they are likely to check that company out through the Better Business Bureau as well. This means that you need to do the same, checking there haven’t been any fraudulent dealings.
You need to hold on to your certificate of authentication and keep it with the autograph in question. That certificate is your evidence that proves the authenticity of your photograph, after all. If you post your autograph online, then you should also include images of the certificate of authentication, as this will instantly make your autograph worth more money.
However, you now need to know what a fair price for your autograph is going to be. That requires an appraisal. A professional appraisal, unfortunately, is also a paid service, but it may still be worth investing in it rather than trying to figure things out yourself. A professional appraiser can tell you exactly what your autograph is worth, and this is a number that you should keep together with your certificate of authentication, so that people can see what the value is.
It seems counter-intuitive to spend a lot of money just to sell something. However, in most cases, you can pass the cost of the appraisal and authentication on to the buyer, which means you didn’t really pay for it. Add your receipts to your autograph to show how much you paid for it. They buyer is likely to be happy to take those on, because it means they won’t have to have their autograph authenticated and appraised if they ever come to sell it themselves. The alternative is to not have the autograph appraised and authenticated, and offer your buyer a 30 day money back guarantee if they find it isn’t the real deal.
Once you have your appraisal and your authentication, all that is left to do is sell your autograph. There are numerous memorabilia auctions to choose from and they are likely to be interested in your product, but at a much lower price. This is because they will have to sell it for a profit. Hence, placing adds on online sites or in magazines is usually the best way to get the most money.
